1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for diagnosing jaundice of the newborn, particularly an improved method for accurately identifying a newborn's jaundice in a self-regulating manner, and a product of application software (APP) thereby.
2. Description of the Related Art
The serum bilirubin level is one of the blood tests commonly applied to the newborn, which is also an important focus closely observed by medical staffs and the newborn's parents. Newborn jaundice occurs when a baby has a high level of bilirubin in the blood, which may cause kernicterus and endanger the baby's brain, resulting in cerebral palsy, deafness, mental retardation and other side effects.
Currently jaundice detection methods rely mainly on small amount of blood for testing. However, this procedure is in nature invasive and may cause pain, bleeding, wound infection and other side effects, resulting in limited application in actual practice as well as some concerns for patients. Therefore, blood tests for jaundice are often applied only after family members or health care workers have observed symptoms of jaundice in the baby's skin. However, the naked eyes are merely subjective judgments, which are especially true for new parents lacking professional training and experience, who often misjudge the situation and cause unrecoverable delay or unnecessary blood tests in treating jaundice.
Jaundice meters works by emitting a light beam to the baby's skin and analyzing wavelengths of light reflected back to provide a non-invasive numerical evaluation of jaundice. However jaundice meters are expensive and may not be afforded by an ordinary family. Also jaundice meters are limited in practice to most newborn infants of one to two month-old, not convenient to the public in general.